Theatre Crazy
by Wingleader Sora Jade
Summary: YGO-YYH-RK The casts of three shows come together to perform the greatest musical of all time: Phantom of the Opera. (Chapter 2 Up!) Cast List! Chaos! Understudies! Sweet Snow!
1. Audition Jitters

Theatre Crazy 

By WSJ 

WSJ: *chuckles* Written in my spare time during computer class, trying not to fall asleep or kill something. Also started during tech week for the musical, a time when I'm extremely stressed and apt to writing theatre fics for no reason. :p So, basicly written out of stress and extreme bordum. ^^; No hurt me, yes? 

Disclaimer: No, I don't own them. If I did, I'd have way more fun with them than I do. ^^ 

Summery: It's a screwed world, in which three anime all live in the same world and time period. When the casts of Yuugioh, Rurouni Kenshin, and Yu Yu Hakusho all audition for a community theatre production of _The Phantom of the Opera_, things could get just a bit wicked... 

()()()()() 

Theatre Crazy 

Chapter 1 - Audition Jitters 

"I can't believe you dragged me here, that I am..." 

Kaoru Kamiya, teenage girl and current master of the Kamiya Dojo, grinned as she pulled her red-haired friend along behind her. "Aw, come on Kenshin, this'll be fun! You know Misao and I were in that play last summer and had a ton of fun! It can't hurt to just audition, can it?" 

Kenshin suspected that it could, but that it would hurt _more_ if he refused, so he allowed himself to be dragged into the community theatre. Next to the plexiglass doors was a large poster proclaiming that auditions for _Phantom of the Opera_ were today. 

"Wow!" Kaoru exclaimed as the two of them entered the theatre. "There's so many people here!" 

"Oro..." 

Indeed, there were a lot of people. Near the front of the auditorium a fight seemed to be going on between a white-haired man and a much shorter man with spikey raspberry and blond hair. What looked to be two men who were copies of them were watching and chuckling sheepishly, along with a man with hair almost as bright red as Kenshin's. There were other people scattered around as well, and many of them were familiar. 

Kaoru gasped and squeezed her fiance's arm, causing Kenshin to 'oro' again. "Kenshin, look! It's the cast of _Yuugioh!_ I'd recognize Yami and Yuugi Motou anywhere!" 

"So it is," Kenshin agreed, trying to pry Kaoru's fingers off his arm. "And the cast of _Yu Yu Hakusho_ too, if I don't miss my mark. Seems many TV stars are trying out for this production, that it does." 

"Hey! You're Himura Kenshin, aren't you! Oh wow, and Kaoru Kamiya too! You guys are on that TV show about the swordsman! I'm your biggest fan!" 

The two teenage actors looked down to see a boy of about eleven with long black hair. If it weren't for the length, they could have sworn they were looking at Yahiko. In fact, it was another child star. "And you're Mokuba Kaiba." Kaoru noted, smiling and bowing to the boy, who bowed back. "We're honored to meet such a star." 

Mokuba blushed sheepishly. "Aw, it ain't nothing. When oniisama got cast as Seto Kaiba for _Yuugioh_, they thought it would just be easier to use his real little brother as his brother on the show. Wow, you guys look a lot different in normal clothes..." 

Kaoru laughed. "That's what happens when you work on a show set a hundred years ago. You thought we went around in pink gi's and bright kimonos all the time?" 

"Well, no," Mokuba admitted. "But seeing Himura Kenshin in blue jeans is so funny!" 

"It's not a pink gi, it's red!" Kenshin said indignantly. 

Mokuba looked at him stragely. "You're in denial. It is _so_ pink." 

"I think they're about to get started," Kaoru noted, smiling at the young boy in amusement. "Perhaps we'd all better find seats." 

Mokuba grinned and nodded. "Yup! Oniisama and I aren't trying out, we're here for sound and lights and special effects. Good luck with auditions Kaoru-san, Kenshin-san." He waved and ran off, and Kaoru and Kenshin made their way to the front of the theatre, where Misao, Yahiko, and Sanosuke were saving seats for them. 

The director, a young woman with blond hair and gray eyes, got up from where she'd been sitting with another girl and clambered her way onto the stage. She yelled for quiet a couple times, and eventually everyone got the picture. "Konnichiwa!" she greeted them all brightly. "I'm the director of this little shindig, SJ Mayran. My co-director is also my big sister, Brood Mayran." She motioned to the other girl, who waved. She had really, _really_ long brown hair and glasses. "We're the theatre brats of the family." SJ grinned. 

"Anyway, we're really glad so many famous people have turned up to audition. Unfortunately, we can't cast all of you, but we always have places for stage crew, sound and light, and the like." 

Brood got up from her seat, climbing on the stage to stand next to her imouto-chan. "Auditions will work like this: you'll sing a short piece (it doesn't matter if you solo, duet, or trio) that you should have come prepared with. Then we'll give you a monologue to read, and then you'll do a short scene with a partner that we'll also give you to read. We've got a list," SJ held up a clipboard "That's been randomized, so you don't know what order you're going in." Brood glanced at her sister questioningly. "Anything else before we get started, SJ?" 

"Yup, we'd like to introduce the head of sound, lighting, and special effects, the head of costume and make-up, and the stage manager. If you three could come here please..." 

Three people in their early twenties got out of their seats and scaled the stage to stand next to the directors. Kenshin recognised all three as actors from _Yuugioh_. 

"This is Seto Kaiba, as I'm sure you all know." Brood said, motioning to the quiet teen who, against all expectations, was _not_ in a trench coat. "He's director of special effects. Technicly he handles sound and light too, but I think he's planning on giving those over to assistants. Right Kaiba?" 

Seto nodded, crossing his arms over his chest in a familiar pose of bordum. "My little brother Mokuba will be handling sound, and Ryou Bakura has graciously offered to run the lights, although both of them need a crew of at least two to help out." 

"Noted." SJ said, scribbling something on her clipboard with a pencil that she then stuck through her thick braided hair. "This is Mai Kujyaki, head of make-up and costume." 

Mai smiled pleasently at the audience. "Technicly only head of make-up. Isis Ishtar is running costume this year." 

The directors nodded. "And this is Otogi Ryuuji, stage manager." Brood finished the introductions. 

The raven-haired man smiled and waved. "My assistant stage manager is Aoshi Shinomori," he ignored the squeals coming from a certain weasal-girl "But I will need others to help me out." 

"Also noted." SJ said, waving the three of them back to their seats. "All right then, I think we can get started." Brood nodded, and the two sisters hopped off the stage and resumed their places about half-way back (they were sitting so far from the stage so they could check people's projection as they spoke and sang). "All right!" SJ called, standing up and waving her clipboard over her head to get everyone's attention. "The first thing we're going to do is the monologues. 'Togi..." 

Otogi stood up and went to sit on a box at stage-left. He was holding a sheef of papers, presumably the aforementioned monologues. 

"Right," SJ nodded. "First up is..." she consulted her list. "Botan!" 

The YYH cast clapped politely (because they'd never openly cheer for someone, or at least 3/4 of them wouldn't) as the blue-haired girl mounted the stage and took a paper from Otogi. She read her monologue, which was actually something along the lines of Kaoru declaring her feelings to Kenshin (causing said girl to giggle). Things went along in this manner for awhile, each of them reading monologues which were actually from the various shows that they acted in, although many of them ended up reading as characters from another show (and let me tell you, it was hilarious to hear Sanosuke Sagara ranting about the heart of the cards). 

The real trouble came when those trying out were told to sing. 

"I don't sing." 

Kurama sweatdropped and looked down at Hiei, who had his arms firmly crossed and a 'don't-you-dare-try-and-make-me' look on his face. "Hiei, when you agreed to try out for a musical, you should have known you'd have to sing." 

Hiei just glared. "I didn't agree. You dragged me here, baka kitsune! And I'm not singing!" 

Kurama sighed and looked at the directors for help. SJ and Brood seemed to be deep in a whispered conversation. SJ burst out into laughter, and was quickly quieted. The whispering continued for several more moments before they looked up. "Hiei," Brood called. "If you don't sing we can't cast you, so we'll just put you on a crew, okay?" 

"Pah, fine with me." Hiei muttered, starting to walk off the stage. 

"Okay then, we'll put you on sound board with Kuwabara!" Brood said cheerfully. Beside her, SJ was giggling hystericly at the look of utter horror that came over Hiei's face. The half-Koorime looked like he was trying to deside between hell or damnation, but at last he grudgingly stepped up beside Kurama, who was trying to hold back laughter. The two sang a quick duet, which revealed Hiei to be a rather surprising light baritone. Kurama was a tenor, and as soon as the two had finished the directors went back into furvent whispering, stopping only long enough to call the next person up to sing. 

Things went much smoother once Hiei got off the stage, although everyone cringed at having to hear Kuwabara sing. Kenshin was a surprisingly good singer, and so was Yami Moto. Of course, after Yami sang, Yami Bakura had to give it a try. The two of them ended up going through a very heated rendition of "Anything You Can Do" from _Annie Get Your Gun_. 

"Anyone you can beat, I can beat faster!" Bakura declared, pulling out his dueling deck. Half the cast of YGO immediatly dove for cover, along with both directors. "I can duel anyone faster than you!" 

"No you can't!" Yami spat, pulling out his own deck. At this point everyone else hit the deck as well. 

"Yes I can!" Bakura pulled a card, and everyone began to seriously consider running for their lives. 

"No you CAN'T!" Yami insisted, drawing a card as well. Several people began to scramble under the seats toward the exit. 

"Yes I CAN!" Bakura held the card over his head, his Sennen Ring beginning to glow as he prepared to summon a monster. 

"NO YOU CAN'T!!" Yami followed likewise. 

"Yes I can, yes I can!" This line wasn't sung by Bakura. Contrary, it'd been Malik, who'd slid out from behind the curtain and snatched both the Puzzle and Ring right out from around their owners' necks, causing shreiks of indignation. The Egyptian took off at high speed, cackling all the way, with both spirits in hot pursuit. The doors slammed shut behind the three, and people cautiously began to stand up from their various hiding places. SJ peeked out from under her clipboard, which she was holding over her head like a trench soldier's helmet. "Is it over?" 

Ryou sweatdropped sheepishly as he helped Yuugi to his feet. "No rampaging Man-Eater Bugs or Dark Necrophers. I'm surprised." 

Yuugi nodded, brushing his uniform off. "For them, this is good." 

There was a loud roar from outside, sending most people to the ground again. The building shook, sending small showers of plaster dust down from the ceiling. Ryou and Yuugi sweatdropped massively, along with the two directors. 

"Lemme guess," Brood said dryly, brushing plaster out of her hair. "Saint Dragon?" 

"Probably..." both hikaris muttered in unison, looking sheepish. 

Brood sighed and shook her head while SJ rolled up her sleeves and stomped off toward the door. There were assorted crashes and bangs, and a moment later SJ came back in, dragging Malik along by one ear and Bakura by the other. Yami was following along behind, looking somewhat bewildered at whatever had just happened. Both Bakura and Yami were wearing their Items again. 

"All Kami no Kardos are confiscated as of this moment." SJ declared, plucking Ra out of Malik's hand as Brood releaved Yami of Osiris. "And yes, we mean you too, Kaiba. We will also be holding on to all three Blue Eyes, the Dark Magician, Dark Necropher, and Red Eyes Black Dragon. We will have _no_ fights of the magical sort in this theatre!" 

"What have _I_ done!?" Kaiba protested, clutching his deck protectively as Brood tried to pry it out of his hands. 

"Nothing," Brood assured him, finally managing to grab his deck. She began to shuffle through it, looking for Obelisk and the three Blue Eyes, while Kaiba whimpered. "Yet. But believe me, you always manage to do _something_, especially with Jou and/or Yuugi and Yami around." The brunette pretended to ignore the mutters of 'stupid psychopathic jerk' coming from SJ's direction. 

"There!" Brood said cheerfully, collecting the Red Eyes from a quietly grumbling Jou. She and SJ climbed back onto the stage, where SJ handed over the cards she'd collected from Yami and Bakura. Brood slid them all into her back pocket, and looked out over the assembled crowd. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" 

"Speak for yourself!" Ryou called. Bakura was almost in tears over the temporary loss of his Necropher card, and Kaiba was staring off into space and mumbling incoherantly to himself. Yami was sniffling as a sweatdropping Yuugi comforted him, and ragged sobs were coming from a shadowy corner where Malik had crawled. 

The directors sweatdropped, and the casts of Kenshin and Yu Yu Hakusho snickered. "Watch it," SJ muttered. "Don't make us confinscate spirit energy too." 

Yusuke face-faulted. "You can't do that! ...Can you?" 

Brood chuckled evilly. "We're authoresses. We can do _anything_." She and SJ cackled as lightning cracked in the background, causing all three casts to shiver involentarily. Fear of authoresses was something that was deeply imbedded in their brains. Beaten in harshly, in some cases. Ryou and Jou looked particularly scared of these particular two. Bakura didn't look too terribly happy either. 

"Now," Brood smiled sweetly (causing various bishonen to shudder). "Shall we return to auditions?" 

"Haiiiii!" chirped SJ the Ever Sugar-High. "We're ready for the double scenes now! Since Phantom is mostly a musical, we've got scenes from a whole bunch of other plays for you guys to do." 

"Bullshot Crummond!" Brood said, her grin threatening to split her face as she brandished a shief of papers. 

"And Chess!" SJ added. "And Cats!" 

Everyone looked at the blond director strangely. "Cats doesn't have dialogue..." Kurama ventured after a moment (no one wanted to ask him how he knew). 

SJ looked disappointed. "Darnit! I wanted to see Kenshin and Bakura and Sano in tight cat suits..." 

The bishonen sweatdropped as Brood's eyes went wide behind her glasses and a dreamy look crossed her face. "Mmmm... Jou in spandex..." 

Several of the bishies began to wonder whether it was more dangerous to sanity to stay here, or if they should have taken their chances with Osiris. 

After a moment or so the directors shook themselves out of their fantasy-induced stupors. "Well," SJ looked over her clipboard. "Let's start up with scene 1 from Bullshot Crummond," she tried not to giggle "With... Let's see... Hiei as Crummond, Misao as Lenya, Jou as the Professor guy, umm... Bakura as Otto, and Kurama as Crummond's friend who I can't remember the name of right now... ARRRG! No hitting 'neesan, no hitting!" 

"And I get to throw the duck!" Brood announced gleefully, lowering her arm from where she was about to whack her sister for forgetting a character's name. She bounced backstage, and SJ sweatdropped. "This is going to be intresting..." 

And indeed it proved to be. Misao and Bakura had the most convincing evil laughs anyone had ever heard (although in the case of Bakura, it was obvious why he was so good at it). Kurama had the British accent down pat, while Jou and Hiei seemed to have a little trouble with it. Most of the cast (as well as both directors) cracked up at Hiei's grudgingly delivered line of "I smell intrigue!" All around, it was a very amusing scene, but by the time it was over Hiei looked ready to kill something (or someone. He kept eyeing Brood and SJ, and Kurama had to keep reminding him that they were authoresses and could do terrible, terrible things to him). 

From there the scenes went smoothly. SJ insisted on playing the Arbiter in one of the scenes from Chess, and Brood told everyone to humor her. When asked why she wanted to play the Arbiter so bad, the only answer SJ gave was something about "beating Seto at his own game". [1] In return, Brood cast herself as Lenya for another scene from Bullshot Crummond, and cast Jou as Bullshot himself, to which SJ only sighed and rolled her eyes. 

Soon enough, the auditions had ended, and everyone was gathering up coats and hats and Kami no Kardos in preperation for going home. 

"I oughta blast you into hell!" Bakura hissed as he snatched his Necropher card from SJ. The blond just smiled pleasently. "You could try, Bakura-kun, but I'd be forced to kick your butt. I have a deck too, you know." 

Bakura stomped off, muttering something about stupid know-it-all authoresses-turned-directors. SJ giggled, and handed Malik his Ra card back. "Be good, Malik-kun." 

Malik pretended to pout. "If I must." 

"The cast list should be posted by next Saturday," Brood announced from the stage, waving to the departing teens. "Outside the door to the theatre. First rehersal is Monday afternoon, so make sure you're there!" 

Little by little the theatre emptied, until it was only Brood, SJ, and Otogi left behind. "So what do you think Togi-kun?" SJ asked, sitting with her legs dangling over the edge of the stage. 

Otogi shrugged and hopped up beside her. After gathering a few of the scripts scattered over the stage floor, Brood joined them. "I dunno, really. They're all talented, but I don't have to be Genkai to forsee some problems." 

Both directors sighed and nodded their agreement. "Between Yami and Bakura, Malik and Bakura, Malik and Yami, Aoshi and Kenshin, Seto and Jou, Yusuke and Kuwabara, Hiei and everyone... And that's not even considering the cross-cast personality clashes! I _know_ Sano and Jou'll get into a fight at _some_ point or another..." Brood said, flopping over so that she was laying on her back on the stage, staring up at the ceiling. "SJ-chan, we must have gone crazy to try this thing..." 

"Aww, come on neesan, it'll be fun, fights nonwithstanding!" SJ encouraged. "Theatre is meant to be stressful." 

Brood sighed and nodded, rolling over to face her stage manager and fellow director. "All right then you two, any thoughts on casting?" 

Both Otogi and SJ slowly began to grin. "Oooooh yeah." 

~*~

[1] - This is a brief plug for the fic _A Tale of Chess_, by Lady of the Thread. :D The YGO cast puts on Chess, and Seto plays the Arbiter. 

()()()()() 

WSJ: Well, there ya' go. Chapter one be finished. :p Next chapter we find out the cast lists and head into the first rehersal. May I say mwaha? 

Otogi: *rolls his eyes* Oh dear... I'm beginning to be glad I'm only the stage manager... 

God bless minna-san! 


	2. Cast Lists

WSJ: *giggles madly* Whoo! Here we are again for more bordum busting! 

Otogi: ¬¬ *dully* Whoopee... 

WSJ: :D Enjoy ya'll! 

Disclaimer: I own none of them. 

_Names:_Just for clarification's sake, Bakura refers to Yami Bakura, and Ryou refers to the hikari Ryou Bakura. 

_Couples:_ Okay, ya'll probably want to know the major couples, don't ya'? ^_^ Okay, okay, I'll oblige. Kenshin/Kaoru, Sanosuke/Megumi, Shizuka/Ryou (with Honda and Otogi still chasing her shamelessly), Yusuke/Keiko, the director-authoresses flirting with every bishonen they can get their hands on, possible Koenma/Botan, and possible Otogi/Mai/Jou. Also, since various other characters (such as Tsubame and Tae) will be coming to the performances, those chapters will probably have a good deal of romantic fluff. Also, I may add some Yukina/Malik fluff, just because I think they're cute together. ^^ Remember though, this is a humor fic, so it won't have too strong a focus on romance. :p Just fluff. Probably. 

_Character Bashing:_ As a rule, I don't normally bash characters. I just don't. I DO, however, tend to tease them mercilessly. =3 Especially ones I don't like. The ones I'll tease most will probably be Honda, Kuwabara, Saito, and Seto. (the first two because they're idiots, the second two because they're jerks) Although Saito won't be around much to get teased. I'll also probably tease Yusuke a great deal. ^^ Yami'll get teased too, but only because I love Bakura and Bakura's main function in life is to tease Yami. :p Besides, it's just so FUN to tease a pharaoh! 

_Bishonen:_ ^^ As is probably obvious, Brood-chan and I both have bishonen that we're rather fond of. :p Her main obsessions are Jou and Kenshin, while mine are Ryou, Sano, and Kurama. 

()()()()() 

"UNDERSTUDY?!?" 

Everyone winced and took a couple steps backward as Yami Bakura finally got a good look at the poster beside the theatre door that proclaimed for all to see the newest casting of _Phantom of the Opera_. "Understudy?! I'm at LEAST twice as good as that Kenshin jerk! The man wears _pink_, for gods' sakes!" 

"Ano... It's red..." 

"You shut up," Bakura told Kenshin, turning back toward the poster to resume ranting. "WHY would those stupid Ra-forsaken authoresses cast ME as an UNDERSTUDY??" 

"You're lucky we didn't stick you on costume crew," a voice said dryly from behind them. The assembled crowd turned to see SJ and Brood behind them, both with slightly amused expressions on their faces. "Everyone saticfied with the casting?" 

"NO!" said, obviously, Bakura. "Why am I only an UNDERSTUDY?" 

"Calm your rage..." SJ said, trying not to giggle. "You're only an understudy because I can't have you playing the same role in the same show two fics in a row." 

Bakura blinked at her. "What?" 

"Nevermind," Brood said, stepping forward. "It isn't important. You're an understudy, and that's how it's going to stay. And if we catch you trying to bump off Kenshin so you can take his place, I will personally give you to mine and SJ's chibi-muses to do with as they will." 

Bakura's eyes widened slightly, and he shuddered. Fear of chibis, along with fear of authoresses, was something else that had been pounded relentlessly into his skull. Chibis were _bad_... 

...And somewhere far away a shiver went down Kaze's spine. 

But that's not important. ^_~ 

"Now that that's settled..." SJ stepped around Bakura's slightly twitching form and made her way over to Kenshin. "Do _you_ have any problems with the casting?" 

"No, no, that I don't," he said hurridly, smiling thinly as he tried to placate the authoress-director. "I would love to play the Phantom, that I would..." 

"Good!" SJ said cheerfully. "I always did think you'd look good in a cape. What about the rest of you? All good?" 

The crowd nodded quickly, except for two of the girls, who stepped forward hesitantly. "Um, SJ-san?" 

"Yes?" she asked, turning around to look at Anzu and Kaoru. 

"The poster says there's a conflict between us two..." 

"For the position of Carlotta, yes." SJ said, nodding. "You two would both be good as Carlotta, so Brood and I are going to have callbacks after church tomorrow. Can you two both be here around two o'clock?" 

Kaoru and Anzu exchanged glances and shrugged. "Sure," Kaoru spoke for them both. 

SJ grinned. "Good! We'll see you there, then." 

The girls nodded. SJ turned around and had to bite her lip to keep from giggling. Brood was being assalted by a two foot tall toddler. At least on the outside. 

"I can't believe I didn't get cast as ANYTHING!" Koenma ranted, his voice nearly as grating as Bakura's. "Not even a pageboy!" 

Brood was also trying to keep from laughing. "Well, you're a little short, Koenma-san..." 

Koenma pouted. "But I can always transform into my older self! Surely you didn't forget about _that_!" 

"We didn't, Koenma-san," SJ soothed. "You're a very handsome man, and we would have loved to cast you into a part, but..." 

"You can't sing." Brood said flattly. "With that pacifier in your mouth you can't sing." 

Yusuke snickered. "Probably couldn't sing without it, either..." he muttered, earning him a whack from Botan. 

Koenma looked shocked. "I - I..." 

"Awwwww..." SJ, unable to resist the uber-kawaii, bent down to give him a hug. "I'm sorry Koenma-san." 

Koenma sniffled cutely, then pulled away from the authoress. "Well, I suppose I could work on one of the crews..." 

"Lighting," Ryou piped up, making himself heard. "Yahiko and I need another person to help run spots." 

"I can do that!" Koenma said happily, smiling around his pacifier. "Easy!" 

"All right then!" Brood said, glad that that was solved, and even gladder that Koenma hadn't decided to throw one of his royal temper tantrums. 

"Are there any _more_ problems?" SJ asked. 

Most of the crowd shook their heads, though Yusuke looked like he was struggling to hold in laughter. 

"What is it _now_, Urameshi?" SJ asked, hands on her hips. 

Yusuke snorted, obviously struggling to keep a straight face. "Botan gets to play an old woman!" 

Botan's face went red and she whacked him. "Shut up Yusuke!" 

Yusuke burst into full laughter. "She even sounds like an old woman!" 

Botan looked imploringly at the directors. "Can I _please_ hit him harder?" 

SJ and Brood exchanged glances and shrugged. "Sure, why not," SJ said. "He's just a stage hand. No one important." 

"Arigato!" Botan hefted her bat from Hammerspace and brandished it over her head. As soon as Yusuke caught sight of it he choked and took off at high speed, with Botan on his heels. "Come back her you sad excuse for a Spirit Detective!!!" 

Kuwabara doubled over in laughter at seeing Yusuke fleeing for his life, and Kurama hid a chuckle behind his hand. Koenma grinned widely as SJ snickered. "This is amusing." 

"I don't see what the problem is," Hiei said sourly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Madame Giry is a perfectly respectable character." 

Kuwabara looked at him oddly. "How would you know?" 

"I just do, so shut your face you big ape, before I shut it for you!" Hiei growled, narrowing his eyes in a glare. 

"Hey now," SJ warned, laying a hand on Hiei's shoulder. "What did we say about no fighting? Much as I'd love to help you kick the stuffing out'a that big lug..." 

Brood grinned. "Aw, Hiei's just sore because his character has to sing AND gets killed off." 

Hiei grumbled some more as SJ giggled. "Aw, Joseph Buquet is a perfectly good character, Hiei-kun! And it really is a very small part." 

"Don't call me Hiei-kun..." 

Yusuke snickered as he ran by. "Small part for a small person, eh?" 

Hiei growled, and after a glance at SJ he took off with Botan after Yusuke, waving his katana in the air. SJ giggled as most of the rest of the cast sweatdropped. 

"Ano, SJ-san?" 

SJ looked around to see Yuugi looking at her with wide eyes. "Yes Yuugi-kun?" 

Yuugi looked a little embarrassed. "Yami wants me to ask you why he got cast as Piangi." 

"He can't ask me himself?" SJ asked, obviously amused as Yuugi shook his head. "He can't, or he won't?" 

"He won't," Yuugi said sheepishly. "He's still mad at you for taking the Dark Magician and Saint Dragon away." 

"Ah." SJ said. "Well, to answer his question, I cast him as Piangi..." She frowned. "Hey neesan, why _did_ we cast Yam-Yam as Piangi?" 

Brood turned away from her conversation with Misao and Shizuka. "We cast Yami as Piangi? I thought you were trying to stay away from casting YGO characters in the same roles as..." the two authoresses shared a Look, and Brood shut her mouth with a snap [1]. "Anyway, should we change the casting?" 

SJ glanced at Yuugi. "Does Yami care?" 

Yuugi was silent a moment, his head cocked slightly to the side as he spoke to Yami. "No, he doesn't mind. He's actually rather relieved that he doesn't have to try and sing in a Spanish accent," the light giggled slightly "Although I'd probably _pay_ to see that." 

"Me too," Brood said grinning. "Okay then. SJ and I'll have to come up with a new Piangi, then. Tell Yam-Yam he's gotten off the Phantom's noose." 

"This time." SJ added, and she and Brood giggled to some private joke. 

"Somehow I don't like the sound of that..." Yuugi murmered, turning away from the two authoresses to look for Jou. The blond was standing near the cast poster with Shizuka, both of them grinning and congradulating each other on something. Yuugi made his way over to them. "What is it?" 

Shizuka blushed and looked down at her feet as Jou grinned widely. "Shizzy-chan got cast as Christine!" 

"All right! Great job, Shizuka!" Yuugi said, grinning at the taller girl. She blushed again and smiled at him. 

"Thank you, but it's really Jou you should be happy for. He got cast as one of the managers." 

"Andre." Jou said proudly, grinning. "That Sanosuke guy from _Rurouni Kenshin_ got cast as my partner, Firmen." 

Yuugi, who was slightly more familiar with POTO than any of his friends, chuckled slightly. "Well if anyone could pull off that role, Jou, it's you." 

"Thanks Yuugi!" Jou said, beaming in pleasure. "And I see Yami got a part too." 

"No I didn't," the pharaoh said, appearing to stand next to his aibou. "I asked SJ and Brood why they did cast me, and they decided to change the role." He shrugged. "Probably better not knowing why." 

"Yeah, it usually is, with those two." Jou dralled. "Well, wanna go for ice creame or something to celebrate? I don't think the directors need to talk to us anymore until rehersal Monday." 

In what seemed like the instant the words were out of the blond's mouth, Hiei gravitated to their side, leaving off his chase of Yusuke. "Sweet snow?" 

Jou gave the short demon a weird look. "Um..." 

Kurama rolled his eyes and came over to rescue the puzzled (har har) cast of YGO. "Hiei, leave them alone. We'll go for 'sweet snow' later." 

"Promise?" Hiei asked, giving Kurama a fierce look. 

The kitsune sighed, and Yuugi wondered if he was the only one who noticed that Kurama crossed his fingers behind his back where Hiei couldn't see them. "I promise." 

Hiei smiled slightly, pleased with the promise of treats, and at that moment Yusuke ran by again, with Botan still on his heels. Reminded of his quest to impale the Spirit Detective, Hiei dashed off, drawing his sword again. Terror must really have been in Yusuke's heart if he was able to run faster than Hiei. As Jou, Yuugi, and Shizuka headed for the parking lot and Jou's car, Yuugi couldn't help but idly wonder who would win in a foot race, Hiei with his demon powers or Kenshin with his god-like speed. 

Brood watched them go, and then turned back to watch Yusuke, Botan, and Hiei come around the building again. They were beginning to pick up speed. Not too much longer or they might break the time-space barrier. Hmm... Could be intresting... She shook herself out of it as Misao hopped up with Keiko close behind her. "We're taking bets on who'll catch Yusuke first. Wanna add something?" 

"What're the odds?" Brood asked, reaching for her purse. 

"Three to one says Hiei, eleven to one says Botan." Keiko spoke up, grinning. 

Brood paused. "Who did SJ bet on?" 

"Botan." 

"Right then." Brood said, pulling out a couple wrinkled dollar bills. "My money's on Botan. SJ tends to screw with the odds." 

Keiko and Misao grinned, as if they understood perfectly, and then headed off to find someone else to sucker into gambling. Sano and Otogi were always a good bet... 

Brood fought off a smile and shook her head. What a cast. This was going to be a great production, she could tell already. But first, there were call backs for Carlotta to get through, and they still needed to find a Piangi. Brood looked around for SJ and couldn't help but grin as the sound of baseball bat meeting skull echoed through the parking lot. 

~*~

"Pleeeeeeease!!! You're the ONLY one who can pull Piangi off now! The accent is difficult enough in speaking, but in singing it's nearly impossible to fake! You HAVE to help us!" 

"I don't _have_ to do anything." 

"You do when I have your brother." 

"Y-you what?! You monster! How'd you get ahold of him?!" 

"He came over for tea. What did you think, I'd kidnapped him? God, you're so weird!" 

"As if you're one to talk... Fine. I'll do it. On one condition." 

"And what's that?" 

"You have to promise me: no more deathfics." 

"...That's a hard price to pay..." 

"I didn't mean totally, just no more about me." 

"......" 

"Do you want me in this part, or not?" 

"Okay fine. No more deathfics about you. Not like you've ever been my prime target anyway." 

"Yes, I've heard Ryou and Malik ranting on the subject before." 

"Yeah, well... So you're in?" 

"I guess I am." 

"Welcome to the production Mr. Piangi!" 

"The pleasure's all mine, SJ. .....Why do I have the feeling I'll regret this??" 

~*~

[1] - The references to another _Phantom_ show starring the YGO cast is a bit of a private joke between me, Brood, Ebony Kuroneko, and a few others. ^_~ They know what I'm talking about. Everyone else, just ignore it for now. :p 

()()()()() 

WSJ: ^o^ Chapter 2 is finished! You know most of the major cast now, and more will be revealed next time! Who is this mysterious man that SJ has conned into playng Piangi? Who will get the role of Carlotta: Kaoru or Anzu? And just how in the worlds did Botan manage to catch Yusuke before Hiei? All this and more, next time! 

Otogi: *mutters* Oh Ra... 

Note: I really can't decide who Carlotta should be, so I need ya'll to let me know which you'd like! 

Reviews!!! 

God bless minna-san! 


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